Finding the owners of a business?

The state's department of taxes, assesments, corporations, sec of state - each state has a website. You should be able to find what you need there.

Here are some ways to uncover who is at the top:

1. Start with the Web. If the company has a Web site, it's likely that they list the officers or Board of Directors on the site. Look under the ABOUT or CONTACTS section.

2. You could even try a search by @domainname.com to see if anything has been posted anywhere, like a news release. Executives are often quoted in the press, and news releases often have company contact information.

3. Publicly-traded companies are listed on Yahoo! Finance. If you know the stock symbol, you can look up Key Executives and Location under the company profile by clicking on a link in the sidebar.

4. Search for keywords "Business License" and your state to find an online database you can search. Also search for keywords "Business Registrations" and your state to locate Corporations.

Depends on the kind of company (strucurally).

If it is an LLP, LLC, Corp., or LP, then they would be filed with the Secretary of State of the State where they are operating and probably can be looked up online at the business portal for that state office. Some general partnerships also file in this manner, but are not always required to do so (mostly optional for them).

Some also file in their local city for a city business license.

Sole proprietorships, general partnerships, husband-wife co-owners, and joint ventures might have local filings with your county records office under a fictitious business name statement. If they are operating within a city limit and that city requires a business license to operate, they might be filed at that city's city hall as well. If they are operating in an unincorporated part of a county (outside city limits) and that county requires a business license to operate, then the county property tax payers office should have a business license on file.

The Better Business Bureau and local Chamber of Commerce might be other places to inquire. Try the internet for the business website to see what it says.

Finally, if they are operating a type of business regulated by special state license (like cosmetics, private investigations, real estate, etc...) then the state office at the state capital responsible for such licensing is a place to look. Try online there first too.

I'm not sure there is a real answer to this. If the company is a C Corporation, there really is no true owner. There's only shareholders, or stockholders.

That being said, I believe that any corporation has to report anyone who owns more than 5% of their stock. I don't know where that would show up, unless it's a publicly traded company.

You could try the Secretary of State, which is where corporations register themselves. It's possible that the articles of incorporation will reveal your answers, if you can see them.